Logic on the Come-Up

Sir Robert Bryson Hall II sounds like the name of a Scottish lord, but it is in fact the name of a hip-hop icon. His stage name, Logic, has become synonymous with intense lyricism, talented musicality, and important subject-matter. But rap is not the only pan that Logic has in the proverbial oven of entertainment. As a true renaissance man, Logic has risen to the top of pop-culture relevancy, creating a large following around his personality and art.

In Logic’s discography, he has 7 albums, multiple mixtapes, and a plethora of singles. He also has two different on stage personas, Young Sinatra (Inspired by Frank Sinatra) and Bobby Tarantino (Inspired by film creative Quentin Tarantino.) Logic first heard hip-hop upon viewing Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill Vol.1, in which the classic rap group, the WuTang Clan, is featured within the soundtrack. Ever since, he has been writing lyrics and producing beats to escape the terrible reality that was his life. Born of a poor black man and a racist white woman, he constantly had drug dealers, gang members, and murderers in and out of his household. He was being pressured into a life of crime but recognized the danger and decided to make something out of himself.

As a young adult, Logic struggled to support himself financially, so he moved in with friend and produced, Big Lenbo. It was living in Big Lenbo’s basement that Logic had access to professional equipment and started seriously producing music. All the hard work paid off as his music exploded after releasing many mixtapes. As he gained notoriety, he moved on to releasing studio albums, including The Incredible True Story, Under Pressure, Bobby Tarantino, Everybody, Bobby Tarantino II, YSIV (Young Sinatra IV), and has another album, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, slated to drop in 2019. Logic was at his most popular in 2017, when his song 1-800-273-8255 was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Music Video at the Grammy’s. The title of the song is the number for the national suicide hotline and is a narrative song portraying the conversation between a hotline operator and a suicidal man struggling with depression. In the year after the song was released, the calls to the suicide hotline nearly tripled as the song brought mental health issues to the mainstream in a massive way.

Logic has proven that he is truly at the top of the musical game but also has experimented with other mediums of entertainment. Logic himself said that he doesn’t aspire to be the best musician in history, but the best entertainer in history. So, Logic has thrown himself into writing, not just lyrics, but screenplays and books. Logic had helped co-write a screenplay for a film that he hopes to direct and star in. He has also done voice acting, most notably for hit animated comedy series, Rick and Morty. However, one of his greatest hallmarks is the novel he released in March of 2019, Supermarket. Supermarket is the tale of an ambitious young novelist who gets his life together and works a minimum wage job at a supermarket to find inspiration for his book. He explores the conflict and interesting aspects of normalcy, and in true Logic fashion, makes race, mental health, pop-culture, and music very present in the story. Logic has said that Supermarket is written to parallel his own life. The first half was written during a dark time for him, and the second half was when he had pulled himself together. The novel is an emotional, funny, and thought-provoking debut novel that has been praised by Ernest Cline, author of hit story Ready Player One.

Logic is a true entrepreneur of the modern age and is dominating the entertainment scene. Don’t be surprised if you see more stories written by Bobby Hall on the bookshelves of your local library, and certainly don’t be surprised to hear new Logic songs played on the radio. Bobby Hall has had his highs and lows, but eventually worked his way up into a spot of artistic excellence and influence and is now using that power to change the world, and himself, for the better.